History Majors Earn High Marks at Regional Conference

April 17, 2013

SUNY Plattsburgh history major Juli Burnett from Lake George, N.Y., took top honors for her paper, “Identity and Democracy: The Rise of Christianity in South Korea, 1960-1989,” presented at a history honor society’s regional conference April 6.

She was joined at the annual Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference at Hartwick College, Oneonta, N.Y by fellow history majors Michael Pelzer of Middle Grove, N.Y., and Paige Dustin of Malone, N.Y., and Dr. Connie Shemo, associate professor of history.

“All students did a wonderful job,” Shemo said.

Burnett and Pelzer sat on the first panel of the conference, titled “Ideas and Conflict in the Post-War World,” where Pelzer presented his paper, “The Uniqueness Debate: A Paradigm Shift in Holocaust Perception.”

Dustin, whose paper was “A True ‘Glorious Revolution’?: Transition in Scotland, Clan Divisions in the Highlands and the Glencoe Massacre,” took part in the second panel session, called “Early Modern Britain and Its Discontents.”

Students from Plattsburgh, Hartwick, Marist College, SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Binghamton gave papers and faculty chaired the panels. Shemo chaired the “Gender and Family in Early Modern Europe” panel with representatives from Marist and Hartwick colleges delivering papers.

“I heard so much good feedback on Plattsburgh students at the conference. Not only did they all give excellent papers, but other faculty reflected on the incisive questions they asked at other presentations,” Shemo said. “They all really reflected well on SUNY Plattsburgh.”